GOLF
Shubhankar Sharma falters in third round, slips to tied-14
Indian golfer Shubhankar Sharma faltered as he carded an underwhelming 1-over 72 and dropped from tied-second to tied-14th at the Acciona Open de Espana on Sunday.
After two rounds of 66, Sharma struggled on the third day as he had three bogeys and a double bogey against four birdies.
Sharma is now 9-under for three days, and he needs some good results to ensure a berth in the season-ending DP World Tour Championships.
Earlier, Manu Gandas missed the cut.
Matthieu Pavon took a two-shot lead into the final round as he maintained his fantastic form with a 66 at the Club de Campo Villa de Madrid.
The 30-year-old Frenchman has led the way since carding an opening 63 in the Spanish capital and produced a confident display of front-running to get to 16 under after 54 holes.
Pavon is still looking for a maiden win on the World Tour but has two victories on the Alps Tour and has finished second three times on each of the European Challenge and World Tours.
England’s Nathan Kimsey was his closest challenger after a 65, two clear of local favourite Alfredo Garcia-Heredia, French duo Romain Langasque and Mike Lorenzo-Vera and South African Zander Lombard.
Kimsey has won both the Qualifying School and the Road To Mallorca but has yet to taste victory on the World Tour after losing out to Vincent Norrman in a play-off at the Barbasol Championship.
Dane Marcus Helligkilde, Spaniard Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Frenchman Julien Guerrier and England’s Eddie Pepperell were then at 11 under, one clear of Dan Bradbury, who made his third hole-in-one of the season with a 226-yard four iron at the third.
-PTI